Selp-actiwcr foot-arch support



L. W. V. WILMS.

SELF ACTING FOOT ARCH SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21,1919.

Patented Nov. 4, 1919.

UNITED STATE LEE W. V. WILMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SELF-ACTING FOT-ARCH SUPPORT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 4:, 1919.

Application filed June 21, 1919.. Serial No. 305,815.

. State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Self-Acting F cot-Arch Supports, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in foot supporting devices of the type Which are insertible in complete shoes, and

it consists in certain peculiarities-of the construction, novel arrangement and operation of the various parts! thereof, as Will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

The principal object of the invention is r to provide a self-conforming or adjusting insert for shoes or a foot support, which shall comprise as a unit, means to support all of the tarsal bones, the articulations of the tarsal and metatarsal bones. of the hu- .man foot, as well as to furnish reinforcement therefor at points where the greatest strain occurs inthe support for the foot.

Numerous other Ob ects and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in the following description and explanation.

In the accompanying drawing which serves to illustrate an embodiment, of the invention,

, pied with respect to the leather or flexible supporting member for said plates.

Fig; 2 is, a bottom plan view of the device showing by-dotted lines about the positions to which the metal supporting plates may Shift themselves and occupy under the pressure of the foot of the wearer.

Fig. 3 is an inner edge view of the support, and Fig. 4 is a cross sectional-view taken on .line ll of Fig. 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

. Corresponding numeralsof reference refer to like parts throughout the different views of the drawing,; in which it will be seen and understood. that the device shown therein is for the right foot, it being deemed unnecessary to, show the device for the left foot, as it would. be the same asthose shown, except that the parts thereof would be located in. the opposite, directions or reversely...

.what larger and longer than the combined length of the metal supporting plates 7 and 8, which are secured thereto in the manner to be presently explained and conforms to the upper surfaces of said metal plates, although it is wider than the latter and has at its inner ortion a longitudinally and upwardly extended arched flange 9, of greater dimensions than the longitudinally arched portion of the inner edges or parts of the metal plates 7 and 8, as will be readily understood by reference to the different views of the drawing.

The plates 7 and 8 are made of any suitable kind of spring or resilient metal, but by preference of German silver. The plate 7, which will be called the intermediate plate, is slightly and downwardly dished at its heel portion, as indicated at 10 in Fig. 3 of the drawing, and is longitudinally and upwardly arched from the front portion of its dished part to its front end, which end terminates transversely with respect to the supporting member 6 at a point about half way between the base and the heads of the metatarsal bones when the device is in use.

The anterior or the front portion of the plate 7, is preferably transversely arched and, as before stated, the leather covering or supporting member 6 for the metal plates is correspondingly arched above the same, as will be understood by reference to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. This plate 7 is secured at its rear inner portion near its inner edge, and in the front portion of the depression or dish shaped part thereof by means of a single rivet 11 to the member 6,

near its inner edge, and in the front portion of the depression therein, which corresponds or conforms to the depression 10 of the plate 7, which plate supports all of the tarsal bones and the articulations of the tarsal and the metatarsal bones. Secured at one of its ends to the intermediate plate 7 near the middle portion thereof in front of the depression or dished portion 10 of v the same is the lower metallic plate 8, which is longitudinally and upwardly arched as is clearly shown in Fig. 3 and is slightly transversely and downwardly arched at its rear portion where it is secured by a rivet 12 to the plate 7, but not at this point to %)he leather covering or supporting mem- The plate 8 or lower plate extends forwardly from its pivoted or secured portion to near the front end of the member 6 and terminates at said end at a slight distance from the front end of the member 6 in a slightly widened and transversely arched portion to support the anterior transverse arch of the foot. This plate furnishes reinforcement where most of the strain usually falls on a support for the foot. The front inner portion of the plate 8 is secured to the member 6 by means of a rivet 18, which as shown in Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing, is located near the front inner edges of the plate 8 and the member 6, and near the front and inner corner of the intermediate plate 7, which latter plate and the plate 8 are loosely connected together by means of the rivet 12 or other suitable fastening device.

As shown, the rear end of the member 6 is curved to fit snugly inthe heel portion of the shoe, and as above set forth, and as shown, the intermediate plate 7 is downwardly dished at its rear portion to receive the correspondingly shaped portion of the member 6, which construction will provide protection against injury .to the flesh tissue of the foot at the heel thereof, which often occurs or is occasioned by the heel nails of the shoe.

The inner margin or edge of the intermediate plate 7 is provided with a slightly upturned and longitudinally extended flange 13 which extends from a point near the anterior portion of the heel, os-calcis bone, forwardly to about the front end of said plate and reinforces the upwardly extended and longitudinally arched flange 9 of the member 6 to which the plate 7 is secured at its rear inner portion.

In use, the support, with its members 6, 7 and 8, being formed to fit in a general and corrective way under the sole of the foot of the wearer, is placed in the shoe in such a way that the rear curved portion of the member 6 will fit in the upright portion of the heel of the shoe and lie on the sole thereof. By placing the shoe on the foot in position for wearing the same, it is obvious that when downward pressure is applied to the member 6 and through it to the plates 7 and 8, the latter, by reason of the pivotal action of the intermediate plate 7 through the instrumentality of the rivet 11 with the flexible member 6, and through the medium of the rivet or connection 12 with the lowerplate 8, which plate is connected near its front inner portion to the member 6, will have independent movement of each other thus permitting the plates to automatically adjust themselves to-different positions, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 of the drawing, to properly support feet of various lines and shapes. As the supporting member 6 is made of leather or other suitable flexible material, it will of course have some elasticity so that the distances between the points 11, 12 and 13 will be slightly varied under the pressure of the foot, thus permitting the intermediate plate 7 to shift its position with respect to the support 6 and lower plate.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. A device of the character described, consisting of a suitably shaped elongated supporting and foot rest member, an elongated resilient plate secured near one of its side edges and one of its ends to the said member near one of its side edges and ends for slight lateral movementfthe said plate and member having substantially the same shaped plan surfaces, and another elongated resilient plate underlying the first named plate and extended beyond one of the ends of the latter and secured near one of the side edges to the said member at a distance from the free interposed end of the first named plate, said second named plate having substantially the same shaped plan surfaces as the said member and first named plate.

2. Adevice of the character described, comprising a flexible member adapted to directly support the foot, an intermediate plate of resilient material secured near its rear inner portion to the lower surface of the flexiblemember at a corresponding position, said plate being provided in its rear portion with a downwardly dished part and longitudinally and upwardly arched from the front portion ofsaiddished portion and terminating at its front with a transversely and upwardly arched portion, and a lower plate secured near its rear end to the intermediate plate and near its front end to the flexible member, said lower plate being upwardly and longitudinally arched and having an upwardly and transversely arched portion in its front part.

3. A device of the character described, comprising a flexible elongated member adapted to directly support the foot, an intermediate plate of resilient material 'secured near its rear innerportion to the lower surface of the flexible member at -a corresponding position for slight lateral .movement with respect to said member, said flexible member, said lower plate being upwardly and longitudinally arched and having an upwardly and transversely arched portion in its front part.

4:. A device of the character described, comprising 'a flexible elongated member adapted to directly support the foot and having at its inner edge a longitudinally and upwardly arched flange an intermediate plate of resilient material secured near its inner portion to the lower surface of the flexible member at a corresponding position, said plate being provided in its rear portion with a downwardly dished part and longitudinally and upwardly arched from the Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the front portion of said dished part and terminating at its front with a transversely and upwardly arched portion, said plate also having at its inner edge an upwardly and longitudinally arched flange underlying and reinforcing a portion of the flange of said flexible member, and a lower plate secured near its rear end to the intermediate plate and near its front end to the flexible member, said lower plate being upwardly and longitudinally arched and having an upwardly and transversely arched portion in its front part.

. LEE W. V. WILMS.

Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

